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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Daphne Hearn, Special Agent in Charge of
the San Diego FBI Office, and Chris Maston, Director of Field Operations,
Customs and Border Protection (CBP), announce the arrest of CBP Officer Thomas
Silva, age 33, a nine-year veteran with the CBP. Silva was arrested on Friday,
September 7, 2012, at approximately 8:30 a.m., at the San Ysidro Port of Entry
(SYPOE). Silva was taken into custody without incident by CBP and FBI agents
assigned to the FBI Border Corruption Task Force (BCTF).

Silva was arrested pursuant to a federal
arrest warrant based upon a complaint filed with the United States District
Court, Southern District of California, case number 12MJ3305. The complaint
charges Silva with wire fraud and concealing a person from arrest. The specific
charges are Title 18, United States Code (U.S.C.) Section 1343, wire fraud; and
Title 18, U.S.C., Section 1071, concealing a person from arrest.

The charges in this matter emanate from
a multi-agency investigation conducted by the BCTF. The BCTF investigation was
initiated in November 2010, after the CBP detected irregularities with Silva’s
work. Specifically, the CBP reported that Silva was allowing individuals with
imposter immigration documents to pass through the SYPOE. Subsequent
investigation by the BCTF revealed that Silva was involved in a variety of
criminal activity, some of which related to his position as a CBP officer.

The complaint alleges that in April
2012, Silva knowingly allowed Julio Cesar Landaverde Valdez, a federal
fugitive, to enter the United States from Mexico through the SYPOE. Landaverde
Valdez was convicted in 2006 for alien smuggling. In this matter, Landaverde
Valdez and an associate tried to enter the United States through the SYPOE with
an undocumented alien concealed in a dashboard compartment of the vehicle.
Landaverde Valdez is Silva’s brother-in-law.

The complaint also alleges that in 2011,
Silva engaged in a scheme to defraud Farmers Insurance Company by filing a
false claim concerning the theft of his personal vehicle. Silva was paid
$7,329.37, as a result of this false claim.

Silva has been booked into the Bureau of
Prisons (BOP), Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) and expected to have his
initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge William V. Gallo, on Monday,
September 10, 2012.

This matter is being prosecuted by
Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSAs) from the U.S. Attorney’s Office
(USAO), Southern District of California, San Diego, California.

An arrest itself is not evidence that
the defendants committed crimes charged. The defendant is presumed innocent
until the government meets its burden in court of proving guilt beyond a
reasonable doubt.